GIA Blog

Last week I had the privilege to speak about our National Capitalization Project at two very vibrant, national conferences. I was fortunate to present with GIA members Janet Sarbaugh, the Heinz Endowments at Chorus America in San Francisco and Ben Cameron, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, at TCG in Los Angeles.

Diane Frankel announced she will step down as Executive Director of the Artists’ Legacy Foundation (ALF) at the end of August 2011.

Before coming to ALF, Frankel had twenty-five years of experience in the non-profit cultural arena, serving as the director of graduate programs in museum studies at John F. Kennedy University (1980-85) and the founding director of the Bay Area Discovery Museum (1986-93). As an appointee of President Clinton, she headed the Institute of Museum and Library Services in Washington

A few years ago, Dennis Scholl, the Vice President of Arts for the Knight Foundation, stumbled across a YouTube video of a spontaneous opera performance in an open-air market in Valencia, Spain. The video moved Scholl, a former attorney and lifelong art lover, to think outside the box when it came to promoting the classical arts for the Knight Foundation, especially at a time when, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, classical performances are more sparsely attended than ever.

Professional basketball player and art collector Grant Hill has signed on as a Campaign Spokesperson for The Choice is Art, a promotional campaign for the arts in Arizona. Already airing on COX Media television stations, Mr. Hill is featured in a donor-sponsored public service announcement wherein he offers support to the campaign, and personal testimony about the impact of the arts on the lives of Arizona’s youth.

Please join us tomorrow, June 21, at 2:00 EST/11:00 PST for Arts Education | Common Core: What Are the Possibilities for the Arts?, a web-based presentation by Julie Fry of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Richard Kessler of The Center for Arts Education.

Starting today, Paul Brest, president of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, will be the guest blogger on the GIA Talk Back blog! Read his initial post on general operating support and project overhead funding and join the conversation here.

In 2004, I worked with Independent Sector to draft a statement, unanimously endorsed by its Board of Directors, that called on funders (1) to opt for general operating support when the goals of the two organizations are “substantially aligned,” and … Continue reading →

From The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Earlier this month, Theatre Bay Area released The Tangled Web: Social Media in the Arts, a survey of 207 international arts organizations on their use of social media. Reviewing the report on his blog New Beans, Clayton Lord makes the following, logical-to-me assessment:

What I find fascinating in these results (and let’s be honest, they’re really top-line, and don’t (by design) go into much depth on the reasoning behind the decisions made by these organizations) is the various spectrums of depth vs. breadth depending on the organization.

Video is now online of today's opening keynote from the Americans for the Arts Conference in San Diego. The speaker was Santa Monica City Council Member Bobby Shriver.

View the keynote address here.